Oklahoma State University Athletics
Football Media Luncheon Quotes
November 11, 2002 | Cowboy Football
Nov. 11, 2002
Les Miles
On what to take from the Texas Tech game
"You take the lessons that you have learned from that and prepare to play your best football. We've got to go forward and play a darn good game, a complete four quarter game, in Kansas. The core group has to respond to what was missing in the Texas Tech game, and make it appear at Kansas with great effort and all out play. If we play like that and keep that consistency we will win at Kansas."
On road games
"I've never been around a team that didn't enjoy going on the road at least in some ways. Just the idea that you can take a small group of guys and band together and make, depending on the size of the crowd, some number of people very unhappy with your good play. I've always enjoyed it, every place I've ever coached or played. We've played some very good teams. "
"We played two very good football teams in Kansas State and Texas Tech. It might be a combination of who we played as well as being on the road."
On Kansas
"Kansas has scored with a very good running game. They have been in games very late and have very good weapons. We have to play our best football, offensively, defensively and on special teams. If we focus on what we can control, we will play very well."
"They have enough offense there that we would concern ourselves with how they play and prepare."
"Mark Mangino was obviously the offensive coordinator at Oklahoma before, and there are similarities in their offense. I would guess it would help him and us."
"I can't imagine that our guys wouldn't get up for this game. We need to play, we need to respond from the Texas Tech game, for ourselves. I can't imagine that they would overlook any team just because they aren't in the best standing in the Big 12 conference.
On Tatum Bell
"Tatum Bell is running very confidently. He is bigger and stronger and running very well when he breaks the line of scrimmage and on into the secondary. That's the biggest difference in Bell's running. He really sees the field well."
On penalties
"There are some penalties we just aren't going to put up with. Personal fouls for example, we're just not going to put up with them, that's not us, that's not what we are about. There are some procedure penalties that are explainable, and some that aren't, and we are going to coach very aggressively against those."
On Bowl Games
"Becoming bowl eligible is not on my mind. Right now, it's Kansas, and we will worry about those situations later. There is a lot of fun in winning a football game."
"We haven't been in this position for a number of years and that's a great motivating factor long term. If you spend time idly thinking about where you may end up, you might not end up anywhere at all."
"As soon as you lay your head down on a pillow, then it's your time. Everyone wonders where we might end up, that's honesty. It is not what I want this team to focus on. I want to make sure we put our best game plans together, and I want this football team to play their best football."
Linebacker Terrence Robinson
On the Texas Tech game
"We just didn't play our best football. It is very tough to play in that environment, especially against Kliff Kingsbury who executes that offense exceptionally well. They also have guys who run around and make a lot of plays. It is tough to look back at that game and say that we didn't give our best effort."
On the upcoming Kansas game
"We have to put that game (Texas Tech) in the past and look forward to this week. We look forward to going to Lawrence, playing Kansas, and giving the Jayhawks a good game. We have to go there and play with our best effort and give it everything we have got. The most important thing is that we learn to play well on the road."
On the play making ability of the Cowboy defense
"It didn't come into play on Saturday. There were a lot of times when we were just running around and not making plays when we were supposed to. They were catching balls and making tremendous yards after the catch. When you play a team like that, you need your play makers to step up and make plays. We just for some reason were not doing that on Saturday."
On winning on the road
"We are very anxious. We haven't been doing good on the road and that is one thing that we have to figure out. One thing that we will do is go out and increase our intensity in practices. We will go out and have fun during the week."
On not winning away from home
"It comes up every week. We are not winning on the road and in order to be successful, in order to get to a bowl, you have to win on the road. We have Kansas, in Lawrence, and it will be important for us to go and play a good game, and come up with a win."
On not overlooking Kansas
"There is no doubt that these guys are not going to let up on us. It was a great feeling to go to Oklahoma and win in our last game (last season) and that is how Kansas will see it. They will come out and play their hardest and get ready to build on the upcoming season. We expect them to come out and play a tough game and give us their best effort. We know that it will be a dog fight so we have to go play our best game."
Offensive Lineman Sam Mayes
On the play at Texas Tech
"As an offensive line we played pretty well. We gave up two sacks that we shouldn't have given up. I think that we did what we were coached to do. We are always very well prepared to play a football game. Coach Moeller does an excellent job at getting us prepared for what the defense was going to do, there were no surprises. I think that we played pretty well and moved the ball pretty well. As I watched film yesterday it seems that we always were at the middle of the field. We were never on the opponents side of the field."
On having to outscore your opponent
"You don't want to think like that, you want to be able to just go out and play your game. Texas Tech has that explosive, fast scoring offense. We are a much more balanced team. We like to drag out the clock and pound the ball. We should have scored 50 points. You should match what they did, but it just didn't happen."
On running the ball against Kansas
"I look forward to running the ball against anybody. I think our coaches know that we have the ability to run the ball against anyone in the Big 12. Just because they have shown a weakness there doesn't make me any more or less excited to run the ball. We just want to go play football."
On the progression of Tatum Bell
"I am very impressed with Tatum Bell. He has learned a lot more about how to follow his blocks instead of relying on his speed to go to the outside. He has learned how to run between the tackles."
On losing momentum
"I think that we build off of any game. You learn by your mistakes. The defense learns from their mistakes and the offense learns from their mistakes. You just go into the next game thinking about what you did last week and you change it for the next week."
On improvement on the offensive line
"I think that as far as an offensive line is concerned, we play as a cohesive group. We are friends off the field as well as being teammates on the field. Ben Buie is definitely the leader on the offensive line as far as getting us on the same page and knowing what the defense is going to do. With the great leadership from Russell and Eaton we have all the key components to be a good offensive line. Coach Moeller has done an excellent job as far as preparing us for every game."
On not playing well on the road
"We try not to focus on it. I just don't think we play our best football. For some reason we just haven't played our best football on the road. I don't think it is because of the stadium or the crowd because I don't really pay attention to that stuff."
